[Stoves] Understanding "charcoal making" stoves. Was: energy lost in charcoal makinag and briquetting

[Paul S. Anderson]

Dear Andrew and all,

Thanks for your 3 excellent messages.

I am sorry that my explanation about the charcoal making stoves didn't get the
message across to you or Steve or probably many others.  However, what you
wrote is highly relevant:

Quoting AJH <list at sylva.icuklive.co.uk>:
> at present the only distinction I see between these versions
> of top lit updraught stoves is whether the secondary flame is diffuse
> or premixed.

And therein you have given us the best and shortest 
summary/explanation.  In the
Karve-Larson type of charcoal making stoves, the flame is diffuse because the
stove lacks one of the most fundamental characteristics of the Reed-style
gasifier stoves.  That characteristic is the combustor component that comes
after the gases are created.  The T-LUD gasifiers attain the vigorous flame in
large part because of the premixing and resultant turbulance that is 
attributed
to the combustor.

Pictures of these combustors are abundant under the heading of TLUD at the
Bioenergylist website.  See the Reed 1996 stove, Reed Woodgas CampStove,
Anderson Juntos B, and Anderson Champion Stove.  And I believe some of Alex
English's contributions also have photos or diagrams.

Pictures of the Karve charcoal maker and the Larson charcoal maker (as 
recreated
by Dean) are needed.  So I direct Andrew's request to them for the 
needed images
or diagrams.

I assume that the "Burn-Barrel Demo" does not need a diagram.  A close
approximation would be the bottom half of the Reed 1996 device.

"T-LUDs with attention to combustion air" or "... with vigorous flames" could
distinguish the "Reed-style T-LUD gasifier stoves"

while the names

"T-LUDs without attention to combustion air" or "... with difuse flames" could
distinguish the "Karve-Larson-style charcoal making stoves."

If the designation of what is a "T-LUD stove" is applied to include also the
"difuse-flame/no-combustor" devices, then I will need to use the longer
versions of the names.

I think (I hope) we are slowly making progress!!

To Kevin: I flatly reject the idea that all stoves are gasifiers.  All biomass
burning stoves do involve the gasification processes to turn solid wood into
combustible gases, but the "gasifiers" are the stoves that separate the gas
creation from the gas combustion, AND have some control over both creation and
combustion.  The "Burn-barrel demo" and the Karve-Larson charcoal 
making stoves
do not have that control, and to call them "gasifiers" would diminish the
descriptive value of all gasifiers.

Paul


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